This year's team of student callers will have 130,000 conversations with alumni, resulting in lots of great advice and several pledges of support to the U.

Calling all alumni

U students pick up the phone for professional and personal rewards

By Steve Anderson

From M, spring 2007

When U of M students ask alumni for gifts over the phone, it's
not just dollars that the grads contribute. A recipe for rhubarb
pie, the secrets of a good relationship (FYI: communication and
trust), and the merits of name-brand macaroni and cheese are all
things alumni have shared.

True, you can't take advice and recipes to the bank. But
encouraging alumni to say what's on their mind is still a critical
aim of the U's effort to re-engage graduates. "We've always tried
to create great conversations for our alumni," says director of
telemarketing Peter Rozga. "Usually, that means informing them
about what's happening on campus."

Who better to relay campus chatter than current students? Around
100 student callers work on the telemarketing fund-raising staff.
Each day, some 40 callers dial a segment of the U's 400,000-plus
alumni to give them news from their department, their college, and
the University as a whole. The 130,000 conversations callers have
each year with alumni and friends typically last five to seven
minutes and hopefully end with a pledge. In the past, pledges have
been anywhere from $5 to $25,000.

Gifts of the gab

So far this year, pledges are outpacing projections. The current
crop of callers reached the $1.5 million milestone six weeks before
the same mark was hit last year. The majority of contributions are
to an area of the University alumni feel strongly about; many are
directed toward scholarships that help students study abroad,
conduct research, or pursue interests in the arts, to name a
few.

While no one's tallying the nonmonetary gifts student callers
receive, each has stories that reflect the value of their
conversations. Ashley Penney, a senior English and elementary
education major, keeps a notebook of all the great advice she gets
from alumni in the education field.

Back talk

Alumni recall conversations with student callers:

"Rachel was friendly, courteous, interested, enthusiastic--one of
those callers who left me feeling good just for having talked to
her."

"I probably would not have increased my giving this year if I
hadn't been so impressed with the student caller."

"Nick was AWESOME on the phone; he really made me miss the U and
remember how much I love it."

Superintendents, teachers, and cafeteria workers have all
offered Penney tips on how to research a school district to make
sure it fits with her teaching philosophy, how to tell which
districts are good places to look for jobs, and how to prepare for
an interview.

"Someday, I'll be able to thank alums for helping me get a job,"
she says.

Senior architecture major Josh Larson started as a student
caller his freshman year and is now a student supervisor. "This job
makes you feel really good because you get to make connections with
people," he explains. "You feel good about making money for the U,
making money for other students in need."

Those sentiments stick with Larson even after he hangs up the
phone. He often takes his message of giving into the campus
community. "Talking with people in class about what I do makes them
think that they should consider giving back to the U," he says. "It
makes them appreciate their U education even more."